Fig. 2: Visual input plays a primary role in the fear of heights.

a, b Locomotion traces (left) and behavior quantification (right) on OHPs (3–50 cm in light; and 5–20 cm in dark). Latency indicates the time taken for the animal to jump or climb off the OHP, measured up to 30 min (n = 9, 10, or 11 mice/height). c Plots of behavioral events over time for a representative mouse in light and a representative mouse in dark (first 2 min on the OHP). d Bouts of peripheral exploration in the initial 2 min under light or dark environments (n = 20 mice/environment). e–g Behavioral event duration in light and dark (n = 20 mice/condition). h Behavioral event summary in the first 2 min, with event levels (−1.0 to 1.0, normalized across all animals) shown in pseudo colors per mouse. i Events of crawling with body elongation in mice in center vs. peripheral area in light or dark (n = 20 mice/environment). j Behavior comparison on non-transparent vs. transparent OHP bases (n = 10 mice/base). k Effects of treatments on the fear of heights (n = 10 or 11 mice/treatment). Treatments include monocular visual deprivation, systemic chemical labyrinthectomy (control n = 9 and Gen group n = 6) (l), unilateral/bilateral labyrinthectomy (n = 13 mice/group) (m), and whisker deprivation (n = 11 mice/group) (n). Pink dots symbolize individual mice. Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M. with One-Way ANOVA with post-hoc t-tests. A one-tailed (^$) or two-tailed (^#) Student’s t-test was used. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.